Ingredients to Avoid: Dimethicone

You can hardly pick up a skin care, makeup, or hair care product these days without reading “dimethicone” on the ingredient list. Why are so many products suddenly using it, and should you be concerned?

what is dimethicone?

Dimethicone (also known as polydimethylsiloxane or PDMS) is technically called a silicone-based polymer. More simply, it’s a silicone oil with certain properties that make it extremely popular in today’s personal care properties.

What companies really like about this ingredient is that it provides a smooth application. For skin care products, it fills in uneven texture and fine lines, which helps create a smooth and flawless look in products like primers, foundations, and lotions. It also provides a protective cover on skin, which is supposed to help keep moisture in, leaving skin hydrated for longer.

In hair care products, dimethicone is used to provide smoothness, particularly in conditioners and detanglers, where the ingredient helps smooth hair and provide better comb-through. Because dimethicone leaves a sort of covering on the hair strands, it can also make hair appear shinier.

is it safe?

The FDA approved dimethicone for personal care products, and it is generally considered to be safe to use. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) also evaluated the scientific data and concluded that it was safe for use in cosmetics. The Skin Deep Database also marks this ingredient with a low hazard rating. The only possible side effects listed are dryness, slight irritation, and allergic reactions.

This tells us little, however, about what this ingredient may do to the skin. Scientifically, it may not cause cancer or other obvious harm, but should you be applying this ingredient every day to your skin? We hope you don’t!

what are the concerns?

The first concern with this ingredient is that it covers the skin. Manufacturers may think that’s a benefit, but we don’t. Imagine having a thin, rubber-like cover over your face all day. Sound healthy? It’s not.

Not only are you missing out on truly moisturizing ingredients like natural oils, extracts, and shea butter, but you’re interfering with the skin’s natural processes—like sweating, temperature regulating, and sloughing off dead skin cells.

Prolonged exposure can increase skin irritation and create a dependency on the product. Just like petroleum jelly, dimethicone can actually end up drying your skin the more you use it, as it interferes with the natural hydrating processes, making fine lines and wrinkles more noticeable.

Here’s something even worse: Have you noticed, since using these new products with dimethicone, that your skin is breaking out more? No surprise, as the covering and trapping property of dimethicone means that it’s not just trapping moisture, but bacteria, skin oils, sebum, and other impurities. That means those prone to acne or with oily skin are more likely to see increased blackheads and breakouts when using products containing this ingredient.

There is also some concern that dimethicone is hurting the environment. It is non-biodegradable, which means that it can pollute our environment during both the manufacturing process and after it’s used, in the disposable process.

what to do?

Your skin doesn’t need chemicals to look healthy and smooth. The way to truly beautiful skin is to nourish it, both inside and out. Avoiding this product is simple and complicated at the same time. Simple, because you can find it (and related cousins listed below) by simply reading the ingredient deck. Complicated, because you’ll find this ingredient in thousands of products out there.

The answer? Purchase your skin care products from conscientious manufacturers who care about using truly nourishing ingredients. As for hair care products? The ingredient is less likely to cause any personal adverse effects when used on the hair, as long as you don’t soak in it (as in a bath) afterwards.

Oh, and by the way, you already knew, but DNA Skin Care stays completely away from dimethicone and any other silicone products.

• Methicone

• Phenyl trimethicone

• Dimethicone

• Cyclomethicone

• Dimethiconol

• Dimethicone copolyol

Have you experienced breakouts when using products that contain this ingredient? Please share in the comments

About Westlake Skin Spa

At the Westlake Skin Spa, we address the aging process with a whole body wellness approach. We have developed treatments and products that are 100% natural, chemical and preservative free. The treatments yield dramatic results without skin tissue trauma, pain or recovery time. The all-natural products enhance the esthetic image while supporting skin and systemic wellness.

Our caring and comprehensive approach, expansive knowledge of cutting edge medical technologies, commitment to organic products, and arsenal of proprietary bio-medical methodologies make for a one-of-a-kind skin care experience. From your very first appointment, you’ll see for yourself what a difference comprehensive treatments using the highest quality of bio-medical products the industry has to offer truly makes.
No gimmicks – just real skin care.

I.Bar Beauty Boutique, home of Westlake Skin Spa, is proud to be a DNA Health Institute Certified & Licensed Salon.

Our estheticians hold additional licenses administered and regulated by the FDA as practitioners of the proprietary Cryostem™ Skin Therapy System. Each has been approved and trained by the DNA Health Institute, Cryogenic Division, as a Certified DNA Practitioner (C.D.P.)

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